Angola to Send Paramilitary Police to Support Mugabe

Just when things in Zimbabwe looked as though they couldn’t worsen, they worsened. Starting on April 1, Angolan paramilitary police will arrive in Zimbabwe. Eventually, as many as 2,500 of these storm troopers will be “guests” of the Mugabe regime as part of an “exchange program.” One can only hope Mr. Mugabe has accepted this help because he no longer trusts his own security forces.

According to London’s The Times, “Dubbed ‘Ninjas’ for their all-black uniform of combat trousers and tunics, boots and balaclavas, the paramilitaries form part of the presidential guard of Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979. They patrol in pickup trucks, with mounted heavy machine-guns, and are notorious for their violence.” The Zimbabwean dictatorship used to have 25,000 enlisted in its police force, but thanks to lousy pay, which is destroyed by hyper-inflation, and miserable conditions mass resignations have reduced that number. As a result, the Angolans will amount to a boost in manpower of much more than 10%.

Kembo Mohadi, Zimbabwe’s Home Affairs Minister, and General Roberto Monteiro, the Interior Minister of Angola, made the deal last week. Mr. Mohadi told the press, “We signed a memorandum of cooperation last Thursday and it is meant to ensure public order and security for both our peoples and the whole southern African region. The police would be on ‘an exchange program.’ We have done that in the past, and it is not something new.” It is, of course, not beyond the realm of possibility that the exchange program is genuine and that the Ninjas are in Zimbabwe for training purposes. Indeed, Angola's state radio has denied the deployment will occur.

A police source quoted by The Times said, “This is the first time that there has been such a large group. Our capacity for training is badly run down, and we could never deal with so many. I doubt if any of them speak English. They can only be here for riot control and to back up our own riot police.” It is difficult to imagine the Zimbabwean forces taking time out from keeping the population in check long enough to do any training with or without Angolan aid.

Both countries are part of the Southern African Development Community [SADC], and while it is largely an economic entity, SADC does have a security and defense protocol attached to it. It provides for cooperation in the event of an external threat. The Mugabe regime is threatened not by external forces but by its own people and its own bungling. Angola is now interfering in Zimbabwean affairs. Things are, indeed, much worse.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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